Personal Space and Adaptation

This week I have been exploring what personal space is, and how I can alter someone's personal space or their perception of it. I first started by looking at some basic information about proxemics and then began thinking up different directions I could take my latest project in.

Do I want to change someone's personal space? Do I want to protect their space? Do I want to defy what most people consider personal space to be? What can the body do? What can the body not do? These are all questions I have been asking myself. In fact the question "What can the body not do?" has been most useful as I have been thinking about how the body has evolved and how it will evolve in the future.

Evolution particularly interests me because the body of a human has developed and changed so much. Think about it, once upon a time we had TAILS!

Interestingly, on animals there are many uses for a tail and this is what really grabbed my attention next. Tails can be used for balance, defence, navigation, warmth and communication but I am very interested in the idea of adapting to defend.

Autotomy is a form of defence found in some animals that is fascinating. Geckos, for instance, are able to sever their tail as a decoy for predators to snatch so they have time to run away, and the tail will still wriggle to help distract. Converted into a wearable product for defence it would be great to have parts of clothing that tear away very easily if someone is grabbed, giving them a brief second to get away, it could even set off an alarm or automatically call emergency services to the scene.

Some animals, such as the porcupine also employ spikes as a defensive method. This is a more offensive form of defence, however it is very effective.

Scent can also be an ally, like in the case of skunks which can release a pungent spray from its anal scent glands. It can be so pungent that it will ward off bears and other large predators.

Lastly I want to mention Motyxia, a type of millipede native to California in the US. It is bioluminescent and therefore glows bright blue at night. This is a warning to predators that this millipede contains naturally occurring cyanide, mmm tasty! I really like the idea of warding off attackers with the form of a millipede, particularly as it is an insect that particularly disgusts me. My group for this project agrees that we can use the form of a millipede to our advantage and its glowing properties would be beneficial too, particularly to replicate in a wearable object.

Additionally I want to explore sound and how disgusting sounds can be used to deter attackers. This will be some research that I carry out in the future!